Friday, June 25, 2010

Welcome to another Four Ways Friday! My focus this week is on the textured impressions embossing folders! There are oodles and oodles of ways to use these folders. Here I will show you four...well, maybe five :)

For this first project I pulled out that wonderful aluminum/silver duct tape that you can buy at the home improvement store! It is great to emboss since it comes with adhesive already on the back. I ran a piece of the tape through the Big Shot with the Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder. I then adhered the embossed silver tape to a piece of card stock and punched it out with the Butterfly Extra-Large punch. Don't throw the backing of the tape away! Here I tore a piece of it and glued it onto the card as an added embellishment! Don't you just love this new Marina Mist color!!!! It's gorgeous in person!

Your embossing folders love to get inked up! For this card I took the Finnial Press embossing folder and used a brayer with some Crumb Cake ink on it and rolled the ink onto the inside of the embossing folder (I rolled it onto the debossed side). I then placed a piece of Sahara Sand card stock into the embossing folder and rolled it through the Big Shot. The ink transfers onto the card stock! You can use subtle or bold ink and card stock combinations for this technique and the embossing folder cleans up beautifully! I added a few extra dots with my white gel pen. The birds were punched using the Two-Step Bird punch and the hearts using the Heart To Heart punch with Rich Razzleberry card stock. Of course I had to add a bit of Crystal Effects to the birds' wings and the hearts. The greeting is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

This next technique came to me while I was falling asleep last night! I cut a piece of watercolor paper and stamped all over it using various images and colors. Then I spritzed the watercolor paper with a bunch of water and let the colors run together. Due to my impatience when it comes to drying time, I used my heat tool to dry the paper :) I then ran the watercolor paper through the Big Shot with the Finnial Press embossing folder. I kept the paper on the embossing folder when I opened the folder up and then took a sanding block and sanded the high points of the design. Sanding took some of the ink away and brought the white of the watercolor paper back to the surface. I really like this look! I added some ribbon and some embellishments from the Pretties Kit (which is retiring). I had so much fun with this technique I decided to try a different color combination on a different card. Here's what I came up with:

For this card I used the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder and covered the watercolor paper with brown shades (Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake). I followed the same steps as I did with the above card. I know I'll be making more cards with this technique!

Don't forget to spread your wings when it comes to using your embossing folders! You don't have to limit yourself to card stock! For this final project I took a piece of copper craft metal and ran it through the Big Shot with the Two Tags die. I then took the tag and ran it through the Big Shot again in the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder. Finally, I added a jumbo eyelet with my Crop-a-dile and stamped the metal with Jet Black Staz On. This tag will look gorgeous on a present and it becomes a keepsake as well! How else can you use your embossing folders? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for stopping by for this week's Four Ways Friday. If you'd like to purchase any of the embossing folders or other Stampin' Up! supplies used in this post, please visit my website HERE!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Whether it's training for a running race or posting to this blog, I am finding that I can motivate to do things a lot more easily if I set a goal for myself. It would be so easy to just stay in bed in the morning if I wasn't training for a road race. It would be easy to not create if I didn't have my daily blog commitment. What goals can you set for yourself? You'll be amazed at how motivating a goal can be!

These are the final pages in the CD Envelope scrapbook! You'll notice a few more Big Shot dies popping up on the pages - the Scallop circles and the Flower...not to mention the movers and shapers label. A few punches were also used - the large flower, modern label, curly label and round tab punches. I also incorporated the Punched Posies hostess stamp set - I am loving these great bold flowers! Now the big question is....what events am I going to scrapbook?! :) I hope you've enjoyed this scrapbook project and I hope it inspires you to try one of your own! The Simply Scrappin' kits are a great way to get started. There are papers, stickers, die cuts...I am saving the stickers for my stamp-a-stack attendees...if there are some left over I'll be sure to embellish my pages even more! Click HERE to shop for your Sunny Day or other Simply Scrappin' kit now!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

When I get home from a trip I am usually really exhausted - mentally and physically. If I know anything about myself it is that I need to give myself time to recharge my batteries and, when I don't, my body will protest and force me to recharge whether I like it or not! I find that at times I can let my "to do" list drag me down. I have an on-going list of people I need to call, emails I need to send, errands I need to run. It can be so easy to get myself in quite the funk - feeling like I just want to rest and, at the same time, feeling guilty that I am not getting back to people as quickly as I would like. If you are one of these people, I am sorry. I have not yet mastered the ability to do it all in the time that I have when "doing it all" also means taking care of myself and recharging. What I am learning is that there is no point letting my list drag me down. I need to accept that I can only do what I can do and hope that that is enough for those around me. I am doing the best that I can.

I wanted to share a few more of inside pages from the CD Envelope scrapbook that we will be making at this month's stamp-a-stack. It's hard to see, but there is a little 3x3 envelope on the top page that opens up - too cute! :) You may notice a few Big Shot dies were used on these pages - the scallop square and top note fit perfectly! I also used the great journaling block image from the My Favorite Things stamp set - it coordinates perfectly with the My Way arrow punch! Stop back by tomorrow and I'll share the remaining pages of the book. I hope you like it!!!!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Running has become quite the journey for me. I have been keeping a bit of a journal to document how my body feels during and after my runs. It amazes me what your body tries to tell you - if only you'll listen :) A week ago I went for a long run and felt terrible afterwards. My body went on strike! I was sick for an entire day after that run. I mentioned this to a friend who is a trainer at a gym and he said that my body was probably trying to tell me it needed fuel. I usually run first thing in the morning - so, in effect, I am running when my body has been fasting all night while I've been sleeping. I usually don't eat anything before heading out the door. This weekend that changed. I decided, instead, to eat some oatmeal and peanut butter before heading out. Wow! What a difference some fuel can make! Listen to your body - it is trying to tell you exactly what you need!

Here are the beginning pages of the CD Envelope scrapbook that we'll be making at this month's stamp-a-stack! I am loving these vibrant colors! I snuck in some So Tweet on board chipboard. I covered some of the pieces with paper and sponged the legs with Early Espresso ink (loving this new color!). It's a bit difficult to see, but these CD envelopes have great little pockets to insert pages in and slide things out of! I'll share a few more pages with you tomorrow! Hope you like it!

Monday, June 21, 2010

I began making this little scrapbook from the inside out. For some reason, the white cover terrified me! Okay, maybe "terrified" is a strong word, but I admit it, I was scared! After all, the insides were hidden inside of the book. But the cover? That's something everyone would see. So I delayed. I waited. Finally, I faced the white space. Or, maybe more accurately, the white space faced me. By the time I got to the cover I could already feel the ideas coming to me. Don't be scared - face the white space - it will become exactly what it is meant to be!

I decided to change things up for this month's stamp-a-stack. Instead of doing the usual cards, we are going to be making this adorable CD literature folder scrapbook! This was my first scrapbook ever, so I'm pretty pleased with the results. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Over the next few days I'll be sharing the internal pages with you - maybe a few a day so I can share them all with you this week! I used the Sunny Day Simply Scrappin' kit (it's retiring, so don't miss out on your chance to get one!) and the Cheep Talk stamp set. I love these cheerful, bright colors - perfect for Summer! I hope you like it! If you want to order your Sunny Day Simply Scrappin' kit, click HERE now!